Blogger Crush: B*tch Ph.D.

Bitch Ph.D. describes its content as "ranting about current events from a feminist perspective;" certainly there's plenty of food for feminist thought on the site, plus posts about being a working mom, academia, (and being a working-mom-academic), politics, the media – all great, smart stuff. But what gets our (proverbial) panties damp are the posts about Bitch Ph.D.'s feminist marriage.

Bitch and Mr. B. (as she refers to her husband) don't let cultural norms dictate what they do. She hasn't changed her last name, for a while she worked and he stayed home, and they are not monogamous. These are personal decisions, but as she writes here, "no matter what you and your partner have agreed on, other people will cling to their antiquated notions. It's the biggest evidence to me that marriage is not just a contract between two people; it's also a kind of social contact (for better or for worse)." Excellent ranting follows.

Bitch says so many smart things about open marriage that we want to quote and link to them all. But we can't or this blog post would (almost) never end. Some of her open marriage posts are collected here. They're old by blog standards (mostly from 2004 and 2005) but they've aged well. Our favorites are:

"Metablogging Part 2," which explains the theory behind her open marriage and how her intellectual and sex life come from the same impulse.

"Feminism (Open) Marriage and Fucking Around: Some Preliminary Thoughts," in which Bitch ponders the idea that one person can't be everything to someone else.

"Enquiring Minds Want To Know," which contains conversations between Bitch and Mr B. about the terms of their open marriage.

"Am I a Big Ol' Queer?" which describes "coming out" to people about her open relationship.

"When Pseudonymous Kid Met The Connoisseur," in which Bitch's son meets her lover.

Over the years Bitch Ph.D. has added three additional bloggers, all of whom are intelligent and fun to read. It's definitely a feminist political blog and you might not agree with everything they post, but they are smart, progressive people, and for that Bitch Ph.D. is our blogger crush.